Improvement in buggy-tops



E. HIBBARD.

Carriage-Top. I

' Patented July 15, 1851.

UNITED STATES [PATENT EErcEQ H. HIBBARD, ASSIGNOR ro JARED A. HIBBARD,corn or HENRIETTA, new YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUGGY-TOPS,

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5.

T0 (6 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Harmon HIBBARD, of Henrietta, in the county ofMonroe and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Method ofApplying, Shifting, and llfanagin g Tops on Buggies and other Vehicles;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in the portableness of and thefacility. with which I apply, shift,:and manage a top on a seat orvehicle by using portable bearers for the support of the whole top andcover, a continuous brace for the raising and lowering of the top, and aclasp for the support and fastening of the cover at the bottom,whichclasp serves also as a rest for the top when thrown back. The bearersare made, of iron or any other suitable metal, by forming it to a shapeto apply to and fit the end of the seat on the inner side and on thebottom, as shown in the drawings, Figure 1, at D. To the center of eachof these bearers is attached a short strip or center piece, of the samemetal as the bearers, running horizontally on the bottom toward thecenter of the same, and is shown atA, 1. These center pieces are ofsufficient length to admit a headed screw, (without interfering with thesupport of the seat,) which passes through the center of each, thenthrough the bottom of the seat, and is there fastened by screwing on anut under the seat. These screws form the only fastening of the bearersto the seat, and are of sufficient strength to hold the bearers firmlyin their places. The hind ends of the bearers then extend up over theends of the back of the seat, closein the corners, projectinghorizontally a short distance beyond the line of the back at rightangles with the'same, and terminating in. a small semicircle or holder,as shown at E, Fig. 2, and through which the clasp passes for itssupport and permanency on the back of the top. The front ends of thebearers, rising from the bottom of the seat, pass up over the front endsof the arms of the seat and project horizontally beyond them, at rightangles with the arms, far enough to admit the ends of the bows and clasp(which are perforated) being slipped on over them without interferingwith the arms of the seat.

The clasp F, Fig. 1, consists of a wire, which dated July 15, 1551.

passes across from the hind end of one bearer to the other through theabove-named semicircles orholders on the extreme ends of the bearers,and projects far enough ina straight line to clear the lines of the armsof the seat, then turns and passes forward horizontally, nearly parallelwith the arms, and is flattened at both ends and fixed onto the frontends of the bearers, over the bows, and there fastened by nuts screwedonto the ends of the bearers, and to this clasp the cover is fastenedfor its only support at the bottom.

The continuous brace G in the drawings Nos. 1 vand 2 consists of an ironrod or large wire extending across from the end of one bearer to theother, behind the seat, through the head of a screw which penetratesboth of the bearers perpendicularly between the holders and the back ofthe seat, leaving space enough between these screws and the back of theseat to fasten them by turning a nut onto the lower end of each. Thebrace then turns forward, rising gradually on the inner side of the top,and forming a slight downward curve until it reaches about half acrossthe end of the seat, where a joint is formed. It then extends on, stillrising with a slight upward curve until it reaches the front bow of thetop, where it is fastened by capped screws and nuts.

The chief object of the clasp and bearers in my invention, or theprincipal advantages to be gained by their application to carriage topsand seats over any other invention, consists in the convenience withwhich they may be applied and fastened to seat, and the facility withwhich they may be accommodated to the portableness of a top by enablingone with their use to shift a top from one seat to another, or to removea top when not needed, and also the great advantage over the commonmethod of attaching tops to seats in preventing much violent racking andstraining on the arms and back of seats, which advantage is gained bothby the .manner of'attaching the top to the seat and by placing the bracenear the bottom of the top; and the advantages of the continuous braceover any other consist in its simultaneous motion in raising andlowering the top, enabling one to sit on either end of the seat andmanage the top with ease, or, standing on the ground, to do the samewith l i y; L I ll little inconvenience; also, the saving of one Themode of connecting carriage-tops with joint on each side and theadvantage of the the seats by means of bearers D and clasp F,- lowsituation of the brace in the top to preso that theymaywith facility beremoved from vent racking, as mentioned above. one carriage-body andapplied to another, in The parts of the bearers not covered by the themanner substantially as described. cushions on the seat are intended tobe trimmed I-IARMON HIBBARD. and also the lower parts of the brace.Witnesses:

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire JosEPH BROWN, to secure byLetters Patent, is NATHAN HACK.

